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2013 National Book Festival!

Two weeks ago I attended the Library of Congress’s National Book Festival. I was heartened to see it was well-packed:

This was in the tent promoting books from each state and U.S. territory – very cool! As you can see, it was also very kid-friendly. They had a map that kids could bring to each state’s table and get stamped from that state. The stamps were particular to the state. I overheard a mom and daughter guessing what Wisconsin’s would be (they guessed “cheese.” It was a badger.)

It was very neat to see the various authors and books coming from each state, and the inventive ways they decorated their table. Some states boasted a lot of authors (Connecticut, for example), and some had very few. A number of tables also had tourist information and lists of their state’s most popular titles and authors.

I also hadn’t realized how interactive the Festival was. In addition to the map-hunt, they had things like a digital book mobile that you could go in:

And from a totally different century, this was my favorite promotional gimmick of the day, for the new George Washington Library at Mount Vernon:

However, even an awesome book mobile is susceptible to getting a parking ticket. 😦